Jeb: Reagan, Bush Sr. ‘would have hard time’ in new GOP
“Former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida said his father, George Bush, and Ronald Reagan would find themselves out of step with today’s Republican Party because of its strict adherence to ideology and the intensity of modern partisan warfare.
“Ronald Reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, similar to my dad, they would have had a hard time if you define the Republican Party — and I don’t — as having an orthodoxy that doesn’t allow for disagreement,” Mr. Bush said at a question-and-answer session with reporters and editors held Monday morning in Manhattan by Bloomberg View.
“Back to my dad’s time or Ronald Reagan’s time,” he said, “they got a lot of stuff done with a lot of bipartisan support that right now would be difficult to imagine happening.”
I think that’s notable for several reasons. It helps to explain why Bush, like Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie and other more pragmatic Republicans, declined to run for president this cycle even though, as Jeb said last week, “This was probably my time.” They were unwilling to claim to believe the nonsense that is required to win the nomination in this day and age, and abandoned the field to the far-more-malleable and opportunistic Mitt Romney.
Jeb’s more honest appraisal of his party is a welcome if belated effort to pull it back from the brink and force it to become more responsible. As the former Florida governor noted last week:
“Here’s what I know to be true. Next year or the year after there’s going to have to be a grand bargain. We are on an unsustainable course. It is not possible to continue to do what we are going — what we’re doing today. It’s just not possible. And I think most people that have looked at our structural deficit problems would admit it. If they were put on a lie detector or, you know, under oath or something like that, they would admit it.”
Asked about comments to Congress that he would be willing to take a hypothetical $10 in budget cuts for every $1 in higher revenue, Bush said his willingness to take that deal shows that he is no longer seeking office as a Republican.
“It was living proof I’m not running for anything I think more than anything else,” Bush said.
I’ve said it before repeatedly: This nation needs a sane, rational and conservative Republican Party, and those adjectives — “sane, rational and conservative”– should not be and need not be contradictory, as they have become in recent years.
I agree with Jeb about the necessity of a grand bargain on the nation’s financial future. But I very much worry that Republican leadership and the Republican media machine have succeeded so well in drilling the “no new taxes” mantra into the head of their base that they no longer have any room in which to manuever and negotiate.
Given his statements in recent days, I suspect that Jeb Bush has had similar thoughts.
– Jay Bookman
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1,055 comments Add your comment
stands for decibels
June 12th, 2012
9:25 am
Yes, they were…but then if you are dumb enough to spend a quarter of a miilion, or half a million dollars for a 30 year old house that cost MAYBE $20,000 to build – that’s beyond foolish.
With that logic, nobody should ever buy a tear-down.
Anyway, I want to put this out there one more time, because it merits more than the scant consideration it’s received. How many people who bought homes they knew they couldn’t afford when the adjustable rate mortgage terms became impossible, several years down the road–how many of those folks were parents, who simply wished to get their kids at least a couple of years’ worth of decent public school education?
How many of us, with our backs against the wall, wouldn’t take that deal if it were offered?
And try to think of this hypothetical without tut-tutting and saying “we I would NEVER be in the situation to begin with, how DARE you imagine I would?” Drop all the personal value judgement for a second and try to imagine that actual scenarios in place, in the early part of the last decade when these deals were being shoved in working-class families’ faces day and night.
You wouldn’t move to a better neighborhood, with better schools, even though you knew in a few years you’d *probably* have to bail, because deep down you didn’t trust what the mortgage broker was telling you about the likelihood that you could sell your house for more than it was already worth? You really sure about that?
Paul
June 12th, 2012
9:26 am
Mighty Righty
I say this in all seriousness, ignoring for a moment American corporate emphasis on a very short-term outlook:
I would expect the Board to consider the size of the company in relation to the competition, the factors over which the company has no control, the willingness of the shareholders to try any corrective measures other than those that have historically worked, whether or not the company was comprised of huge blocks of workers who absolutely refused to give up anything for the long-term health of the company,
things like that. If that were the case, and if within the first year it became clear that the company’s position was far, far worse than anything my fiercest critics thought it was, then I’d expect the Board to reorient their thinking, ditch the ‘next quarter’s results are vital’ short-sightedness and recognize that 41 months is likely the minimum where they’d expect to see improving fortunes.
Doggone/GA
June 12th, 2012
9:29 am
“You really sure about that?”
yes, I’m really sure about that. I bought my property 25 years ago. Had plenty of opportunity to move to “better” neighborhoods…but I didn’t, because I saw houses selling for hundreds of thousands that I would even give thousands for. I have better things to do with my money than overpay on a house.
Jimmy62
June 12th, 2012
9:30 am
It’s funny how the Dems have been just as recalcitrant and partisan, but you never mention that.
Doggone/GA
June 12th, 2012
9:32 am
“It’s funny how the Dems have been just as recalcitrant and partisan, but you never mention that.”
blogspot.com is ready when you are
Paul
June 12th, 2012
9:33 am
oh, and Mighty Righty
If every candidate the Board interview told us they’d bring back the same policies in effect before our company nearly went under, and they also said they planned to increase expenditures in one of our largest expense areas by 20 percent, I kinda think the Board might not be too quick to jettison the guy in charge. Even after 41 months.
Brosephus™
June 12th, 2012
9:37 am
dB
Proves P.T. Barnum right I guess…
Paul
June 12th, 2012
9:37 am
sfd
“And try to think of this hypothetical without tut-tutting and saying “we I would NEVER be in the situation to begin with, how DARE you imagine I would?”
Y’know, I’m amazed we’re in the situation we’re in if nobody would ever do the things you outlined –
And in the current climate, you can add to that “my wife became ill with cancer and because Republicans overturned all the ACA the insurance company just told us they’re dropping her. Ten years ago I could have tapped into my home equity to pay for her care. What can I do now except wait for her to die?”
Mr Right
June 12th, 2012
9:41 am
Come on Jay, over a thousand comments. Time for new sheets blasting the GOP.
Mick
June 12th, 2012
9:44 am
What really amazes me is the big pile of stink the repubs left on the doorstep of the white house in 08. They then demand that the new occupant have it all fixed in three plus years. Only in america do we have such a collective amnesia about recent past current events. What’s romney gonna do should he get the nod? The only thing he keeps harping on is that obama has failed and that he is not obama. Who is he then? What does he stand for? It almost doesn’t matter that much to me anymore, I’m near the end game but that doesn’t mean I’ll sit idly by while the future gets robbed by ideology and propaganda…
Thomas
June 12th, 2012
9:50 am
What really amazes me is the big pile of stink the repubs left on the doorstep of the white house in 08.They then demand that the new occupant have it all fixed in three plus years.
Ah- the great enablers with no time table and accountability.
1996 Lance Armstrong diagnosed with cancer- 1999 a) wins the Tour or b) say give me a Schwinn bike and 4 more years?
What a joke- CEOs off with their heads- Whouse- keep rollin’ them bones and propaganda
stands for decibels
June 12th, 2012
9:51 am
What can I do now except wait for her to die?
“Serves her right for marrying a loser.”
/off-mic Republicans
USMC
June 12th, 2012
10:02 am
Comrade Obama’s Lack of Experience is painstakingly obvious :
Pileup at the White House…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/car-wreck-at-the-white-house/2012/06/11/gJQAl8MpVV_print.html
The President is driving with a LEARNER’S permit.
Oblama
June 12th, 2012
10:02 am
“W” compromised. Big spending socialist programs for the Dems in return for their support in Iraq. Compromising with Harry Weed and Nanny Pelosi is like compromising with the devil.
Paul
June 12th, 2012
10:03 am
sfd
Been getting regular updates from my Congressman, Michael Burgess, medical doctor, Republican, head of some health care caucus in the House. To his credit, he has for months been saying “look, if all or part of ACA is overturned, we need to be ready, fast, with put-backs and alternatives or we’re going to have a disaster on our hands.”
It probably won’t be as comprehensive or consumer-friendly as I’d prefer, but this is Texas, after all (home of the 25% with no health insurance – thank you Governor Perry) and he does want to get reelected.
USMC
June 12th, 2012
10:05 am
I am sensing that Jay is “cooking up” another hatchet job on the GOP.
It must be a real Doozie, as usual!
Paul
June 12th, 2012
10:06 am
Oblama
“Big spending socialist programs for the Dems in return for their support in Iraq.”
And we’re all so sure you have the links and the sources and all to show where Democrats said, “Okay, President Bush, you push and pass our big-ticket socialist spending programs and you’ve got our vote to do what you want with Iraq.”
Little early for drinking, isn’t it?
Paul
June 12th, 2012
10:07 am
USMC
Then I’m sure you’ll be able to quickly refute it with reason, logic and facts.
Oblama
June 12th, 2012
10:08 am
One word to describe our current President “NAIVE”. I n way over his head……….. reminds me of Jimmy Carter. News media built him up. History will tear him down.
UNCLE SAMANTHA
June 12th, 2012
10:08 am
the flip side is that ZELL MILLER represents fiscally conservative white men being run out of the democrat party………. the PURGE was complete
DawgDad
June 12th, 2012
10:09 am
“Asked about comments to Congress that he would be willing to take a hypothetical $10 in budget cuts for every $1 in higher revenue”
Ridiculous question. Stimulate the economy and the Federal tax revenue will grow. Attempts to grow revenue on a broad scale via public sector growth are doomed to failure, either in shortfalls of projected revenues or when the bill for the deficit-funded growth comes due.
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
June 12th, 2012
10:09 am
If Cheesy Grits does win whats the over under on how long it takes the bombs to start dropping on brown or black people somewhere?
I say 90 days.
godless heathen
June 12th, 2012
10:09 am
Mick: What really amazes me is the big pile of stink the repubs left on the doorstep of the white house in 08. They then demand that the new occupant have it all fixed in three plus years.
B. Obama, 2009: “I will be held accountable,” Obama said. “I’ve got four years and … A year form now, I think people are going to see that we’re starting to make some progress, but there’s still going to be some pain out there … If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”
Normal Free...Pro Human Rights Thug...And liking it!
June 12th, 2012
10:10 am
Paul
June 12th, 2012
10:07 am
Oblama
June 12th, 2012
10:10 am
P – Don’t get in over your head. You don’t belong with the big boys.
UNCLE SAMANTHA
June 12th, 2012
10:11 am
ALL budget cuts are HYPOTHETICAL
they never get done
promises
promises
UNCLE SAMANTHA
June 12th, 2012
10:14 am
the only reason we had 2 years of a budget surplus at the end of the clinton 2nd term was that we were in an internet bubble with huge revenues coming in and that clinton and the republican congress were stalemated and COULDNT DO ANYTHING
Oblama
June 12th, 2012
10:15 am
It’s in the voting record. Dem Congress “compromised” with “W” and voted to go in to Iraq. In return they got their kick back – big spending socialist programs that “W” agreed to not veto. That was a compromise with the devil.
USMC
June 12th, 2012
10:15 am
“Then I’m sure you’ll be able to quickly refute it with reason, logic and facts.”–Paul
Based on your “Hope & Change” politics of FEEL GOOD and EMOTION, Paul, you wouldn’t understand reason, logic or facts if they hit you in the face, as they are done on a daily basis.
The majority of your political views lack all three.
Sorry to hear they are bringing back “Dallas”.
Paul
June 12th, 2012
10:16 am
DawgDad
“Stimulate the economy and the Federal tax revenue will grow. ”
So what kind of government intervention in the free market are you proposing?
Some kind of government picking which sectors will gain the most and get the most government attention?
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
June 12th, 2012
10:18 am
Further proof Reagan would be a Democrat today.
The Republican party has been taken over by the Sean Hannity Neal Boortz types.
They live in an America where they are the ” Real ” Americans and the poor are poor because they choose to be.
Its a make believe Fantasy land but they love it.
Same sort of thing happened with Bush and John Kerry.
Kerry who went to war and was wounded was the ” Sissy ”
Bush who got his daddy to get him out of it was the ” mans man ”
Only in the delusional Republican mind is such thinking possible.
Oblama
June 12th, 2012
10:18 am
Whose guilty for this alarming Fed debt? Everyone that voted for it and everyone that votes to keep them in office. Ready to accept your share of the blame?
Paul
June 12th, 2012
10:19 am
Oblama
“Don’t get in over your head. You don’t belong with the big boys.”
Translation: “I don’t have anything at all to back up my ridiculous claim that Democrats struck a deal to get their big-ticket socialist programs passed in return for giving Pres Bush anything he wanted in Iraq, so I think I’ll start with the personal stuff so people won’t remember the wacko stuff I said.”
That about right?
Pass the Cheesy Grits Please
June 12th, 2012
10:19 am
Based on your “Hope & Change” politics of FEEL GOOD and EMOTION, Paul, you wouldn’t understand reason, logic or facts if they hit you in the face, as they are done on a daily basis.
Notice he didn’t give any.
Paul
June 12th, 2012
10:20 am
Oblama 10:15
Putting compromise in quotes… is that supposed to make it more believable?
stands for decibels
June 12th, 2012
10:21 am
he has for months been saying “look, if all or part of ACA is overturned, we need to be ready, fast, with put-backs and alternatives or we’re going to have a disaster on our hands.”
Good on your local rep for acknowledging there’s a trouble brewin’.
Paul
June 12th, 2012
10:23 am
USMC
““Then I’m sure you’ll be able to quickly refute it with reason, logic and facts.”–Paul”
“Based on your “Hope & Change” politics of FEEL GOOD and EMOTION, Paul, you wouldn’t understand reason, logic or facts if they hit you in the face, as they are done on a daily basis.
The majority of your political views lack all three. ”
You sure do use an awful lot of words to say “Nope’, you know that?
Hey, I’m with you on Dallas. When they couldn’t get Victoria Principal I lost a lot of interest. (couldn’t stand her character or acting, just liked looking at her)
St Simons - we're on Island time
June 12th, 2012
10:24 am
oh, please Jeb. It was the inevitable destination of your party.
And you helped it get there in 2000. Quit your whining.
You, Katherine Harris, and Sandra O’Connor.
No, we will not forget.
No, it will never be over.
You will never live it down.
It will live in infamy.
For the rest of our lives.
As long as we can teach children & grandchildren.
And teach them to teach their grandchildren.
Never. Ever.
Oblama
June 12th, 2012
10:26 am
Please don’t dredge up “swift boat” Kerry again…….. and like Egore was a hero for processing film in a back room far away from the action? Vietnam was a poor mans war. If you couldn’t pay for college. where you were exempt from the draft or if your daddy wasn’t a politician that could get you in the National Guard, which was also exempt, then you went to Vietnam. Vietnam was the Dems war and LBJ has the blood of many young lives on his hands.
stands for decibels
June 12th, 2012
10:28 am
Dingo ate my wealth SHEETZ
Don't Forget
June 12th, 2012
10:28 am
{Good morning}
They BOTH suck
June 12th, 2012
10:30 am
Oblama
Funny you cry like a baby about Kerry and Gore, yet it was Bush in a Guard unit like you mention and Cheney who said he had “other priorities”, but carry on with your usual sniffling, rants and diatribes
Oblama
June 12th, 2012
10:30 am
P – I was there. That is why I know. It’s all on record. Don’t waste your time trying to prove other wise. Dems voted for Iraq and “W” lost his veto pen.
Paul
June 12th, 2012
10:34 am
Oblama
You were there? Where? In what capacity?
If it’s in the record you can lay it out. Just remember, coincidence does not equal cause.
Sheets – going upstairs.
Oblama
June 12th, 2012
10:37 am
SUX – There you go protecting the Dems again. Funny how you say both sides suck when you defend the Dems 99% of the time. You are echoing what I just said. If your daddy had pull (Like Bush) you could avoid the LBJ draft. Did I sound like I agreed with that? Politicians created the rules that kept their children out of Vietnam. That was wrong. I already said that. 10:26 a.m. I am not a Repub. When they are wrong I don’t defend them. The Vietnam War was wrong.
Oblama
June 12th, 2012
10:40 am
P – Takes his marbles and goes home. NEXT.
Oblama
June 12th, 2012
10:41 am
here tomorrow – gone today.
They BOTH suck
June 12th, 2012
10:45 am
Oblama
You coincidentally called out just Dems but not Repubs
So there you go………………….
Just sayn
Call them ALL OUT
Oblama
June 12th, 2012
10:46 am
////////
They BOTH suck
June 12th, 2012
10:48 am
Oblama
Improve your reading comprehension skills. My reply to you did not call out any Dem, however it did call out the fact that you only mentioned one side and you only called out Bush after I did
But nice try……….
Have a great day
They BOTH suck
June 12th, 2012
10:50 am
Did not defend any Dem
Excuse me
Im out
Adam
June 12th, 2012
11:04 am
Brosephus: You’re gonna stick to that one, really??? Especially when Conservatives consider compromising as losing???
Not to mention making up arguments that boil down to accusing the other side of some nefarious scheme that they themselves, knowingly or not, are doing. For example, voter fraud. Most recent examples? Republicans and supporters. Most recent targets? Democrats and minorities.
Of course some of them do it just to gin up their base in support of solving a non-existent problem. Like illegal aliens voting. Doesn’t happen. Oh sure you can yell all about how you HEAR that it happens, but there are no examples of it ACTUALLY happening.
So in order to cover up the fact that there are voters that the governor simply does not want to vote, even though they are legal citizens, because he perceives that they won’t vote his way, he MAKES UP that these people are illegal. It’s a diversion tactic designed entirely to reach a goal that is obvious, but not stated, and that’s all supporters need to go after it. Use your brain!
Adam
June 12th, 2012
11:05 am
It’s funny how the Dems have been just as recalcitrant and partisan, but you never mention that.
Really? Just as much? How about some examples there, chief. Maybe you can come up with 60+ new congressmen and women who are elected into office that are extreme on the LEFT, but I doubt it. Heck, I’ll cut you a break and say let’s do it based on percentage.
Borowitz Report – In Emergency Session, U.N. Declares Florida a Rogue State « Ye Olde Soapbox
June 12th, 2012
6:20 pm
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fair and balanced
June 12th, 2012
8:16 pm
Saint Ronald was pro abortion when Governor of California and had an affair with Nancy before divorcing his first wife. As president, he did not care about deficits and spent money on unnecessary military hardware.He passed socialized medicine requiring all hiospitals to treat anyone in the emergency room and have the insured pay for all; He helped Ben Laden and Islamic crazies take over in Afghanistan and turned tail and ran when Hezbollah killed 150 Marines in Lebanon and worse yet secretly gave military aid to Iran . Yeah Jeb is 100% correct the current right wing idealogues in the Repub. party would not give him the time of day
.If Saint Ronnie were a Democrat,Boehner, Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck and the others would have him impeached for sure .